Leftenent Govenor Delbert Hosemann made the following remarks at the Neshoba County Fair yesterday.
Good morning! It is great to be back at the Neshoba County Fair! A welcome home. We all missed each other, and Lynn and I are so glad to be back. We do not even care how hot it is.
We came in last year and had to face the devastation of a historic number of floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
Then
the COVID pandemic reached Mississippi, and everything changed. Our
hospitals filled up and our economy came to a grinding halt while we all
took steps to protect our families and neighbors.
Even
in the face of COVID, we continued to work every day on the agenda you
elected us to execute: jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and
right-sizing state government.
Thanks
to your support, and the work of your Senators and Representatives, we
elevated workforce training efforts. We shrunk the bureaucratic board
overseeing workforce training from 41 to seven key people, hired a
“czar” to track and consolidate our efforts, and began evaluating
current programs for outcomes.
If a program is not performing, we do not need to spend taxpayer money on it.
And
every Mississippian deserves access to quality training so they can
secure a meaningful job and provide an economic future for their family.
We brought the Mississippi Senate to your living room.
You
have a right to know what happens inside your State Capitol. Now, all
of our sessions, redistricting hearings, and committee meetings are
webcasted and archived so citizens can view them at any time.
We increased
capacity at our hospitals. When the pandemic raged, our hospitals were
Ground Zero for the sick and dying. Our healthcare workers, at great
personal risk, have taken care of us tirelessly without complaint. This
is their finest hour.
We
recognized the major role our hospitals have played and provided
millions of dollars in additional funding for personal protective
equipment and increased ICU-bed capacity. All of which is being used
today.
We
protected the integrity of our roads and bridges. We worked with our
farmers and loggers, two of Mississippi’s most important industries, to
increase weight limits for harvest permits to a reasonable amount while
simultaneously increasing penalties for overweight trucks and providing
additional funding for our county roads and bridges.
We
instituted a statewide one-to-one technology plan for all
schoolchildren. Mississippi is the first state in the nation to
institute a statewide rollout of computers and tablets for all K-12
students. Over $150 million was set aside by the Legislature to provide
our children with first-rate technology—and teach them how to use it.
The greatest asset we have is a child’s brain.
We
made broadband more accessible. Growing Mississippi’s economy requires
connectivity to the wider world. We cannot achieve this without
reliable, high-speed Internet access. Our match program with our state
co-operatives will connect 50,000 new homes in two years, and our other
legislation opened up public utility fiber in some of our most rural
areas.
Our goal is to reach the last mile down the gravel road in every neighborhood.
Here is where we are going in the year ahead:
We
are working on getting our fellow Mississippians back to work. Our
labor force participation rate still sits at 56 percent—the second
lowest in the nation and not improving with the pandemic
shutdown. Raising it immediately depends on moving unemployed adults
back into the workforce.
We
are committed to investing in high-quality training programs, offered
through our high schools and community colleges, which end in a
meaningful job. We need to begin this training with our high school
students before graduation day. With more dual enrollment and career and
technical opportunities, we will continue to push training down into
our high schools.
Less
than 30 percent of our population has a two- or four-year college
degree — but all Mississippians deserve opportunities for a meaningful
economic life.
Small
to medium businesses are our target for most of Mississippi to grow and
our business incentives should encourage those businesses. We will pass
again, as we did last year in the Senate, the MFlex program.
This
is a common sense, performance-based formula for tax incentives for
small and medium businesses developed by your local economic developers
to grow and diversify your local economy.
We are working on making healthcare more accessible and affordable in Mississippi.
The
time for simply saying “no” to our options for working Mississippians
has passed. When a cancer diagnosis can bankrupt a family, we have a
responsibility to help. Further, no Mississippian should be further than
30 minutes from an emergency room.
This
fall, the Senate will hold hearings and dig deeper into the delivery of
healthcare in our State. From managed care, to scope of practice
issues, to insurance options, everything is on the table.
When
our working Mississippians are healthy, they are holding down jobs,
contributing to their communities, and supporting their families. We
should treat our neighbors as ourselves.
We
are working on ensuring every child in Mississippi has access to a
high-quality education. Teachers are helping grow the next generation of
Mississippians. The Senate has supported pay raises both years I have
been in office, and this year, we will take a wholesale look at the
current salary schedule.
We will again redouble our investment in early childhood education, which is the basis for our children’s future.
If
the pandemic proved anything, it is our children want and need to be
back in our classrooms in front of a dedicated teacher. Every school
needs to open in-person this fall.
We are working on putting more of your hard-earned money back into your pockets.
We
ended the fiscal year more than $1 billion over estimated revenues. It
is unclear whether this surge is here to stay but know this: growing
government is a nonstarter.
The
Senate will hold hearings before the year concludes on comprehensive
tax reform, and we have invited the House to join us. All of the
hearings will be webcasted because we want you to be a part of the
process. It is your money.
We are working to put the money sent to us by the federal government to the best use.
We
did not ask for $1.8 billion in pandemic relief. I, like you, have
major concerns about how printing money in Washington will impact our
children’s futures.
We
are asking our cities and counties to come to us with well-planned,
sensible projects in water, sewer, and other infrastructure upgrades. We
do not need to invest these funds for one or two years, but for one or
two generations.
We
are working on the items you told us you cared about, including
implementing a responsible medical marijuana program and reinstituting
the initiative process.
The
Senate passed a back-up to Initiative 65, but our efforts ultimately
failed in the House. When the Supreme Court struck the law down, we
immediately began holding hearings and drafting legislation. We intend
to pass a medicinal marijuana bill and return the initiative process to
the people.
I
have experienced COVID and received the vaccine. It reminded me how
blessed I am to live and work in Mississippi and I look forward to
working for each one of you.
Thank you for your support. Enjoy the Fair and God bless Mississippi!"
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